


The Reawakening

by LadyGrenadine



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: A very confused Katara, Action/Adventure, Alternate Timelines, Eventual Romance, F/M, Mystery, PTSD Zuko, Supernatural Elements, characters are aged up a little, we're talking slooooow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-10-07 14:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10362306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyGrenadine/pseuds/LadyGrenadine
Summary: They had failed. The Avatar is missing, caught in a storm and drowned, while a banished Prince marches to his execution. The end of a rebellion is never met with grace as Ozai's cruel and meaningless war continues. "Where was she?" They ask as the summer sun sets. Now they wait in slumber, encased in ice and stone, as the comet fades back into the void of space for another hundred years.





	1. Prologue

They said that they killed his Uncle, had him executed only hours after his capture.

Zuko didn't believe them. The Dragon of the West was not that easy to catch and kill.

They said that the Avatar was dead, caught in a storm and drowned along with his bison.

Zuko didn't believe them. Aang would never had been so careless with Appa.

The memories seemed dark despite the blue skies they held. The days he turned his back on his homeland and joined Aang, his friend, the Avatar. The days that he and Aang had spent in league with the White Lotus, traveling and mastering fire bending. Trying to stop a war that was wrong in so many ways.

He could curse their foolishness. His witlessness and the sheer absurdity of his actions.

_Uncle always said I never thought things through._

What was a small band of rogues and deserters against an army? 

What was a group of idealists and starry-eyed visionaries against a nation bred on blood and propaganda? Who where they to think they could stop a genocide? To end an industrialized military complex that had made a small nation thrive? Yes, they were foolish indeed. Foolish to stand one soldier strong against an entire nation.

The Fire Nation had won. The war would continue. His death would be a single digit in the million deaths that would follow. 

He pleaded with the spirits for Aang to survive, for the Avatar to weather out the storm and end the war.

A decade of war was long enough. What would happen to the world if the war lasted a century? Zuko trembled at the thought.

He shivered every humid night spent in the prison as he awaited his end.

He did his best to conceal the faint quiver in his hands, being dragged before the Imperial Council and his father, the Fire Lord, in chains. Only it was not the masses of eyes that bore into his back at his public trial that rattled his spine.

"We find the former Crown Prince guilty of all crimes brought forth today at this court. His crimes so heinous in their nature that his title and birthright are forsaken. Henceforth, he is disowned and his name removed from the Hall of Dragons. We sentence him to death at Ayumu bay, extinguished with the final light of the western sunset. As this royal household and council deem fit. Are there any last words from the former Prince?"

His own sister sneered at him as his sentence read, while his father's face looked like stone. But Zuko could make out a hint of a triumphant smirk amidst his father's composed mask. 

Zuko clenched and unclenched his hands in his chains. He drew in a deep breath. He glanced at the council, his sister, and his father. Then spoke with all the fire he could muster. 

"You may strip me of whatever hollow words you have given me and you may bury me in whatever ditch you find! Know there will come a day when you will be scorned for your crimes and heinous exploits of patriotism. You call me traitor but you are murderous parasitic scoundrels! And one day, like me,  _YOU will be_ buried and forgotten! _"_

The crowd was silent, save for a few quiet murmurs. Ozai stood from his seated platform above and behind the council. Thunder rumbled in the dark clouds on the horizon, the remnants of a great storm in the east. Zuko swallowed.

"You claim your actions have been committed out of honorable intentions. The right thing, per se. You have forgotten that as Prince your duty is to your country above all else. Honor and Duty, for ruler and country. Both of which you have failed in and will pay the ultimate price. Lets see if your brave words or your Avatar save you as you march to your execution."

Zuko's breath caught in his throat as Ozai reseated himself on the cushioned dais.

The crowd grew noisy and anxious behind him. Zuko swallowed. As one of council members stood to dictate the extent of his punishment.

"You will be shaven and branded as the traitor you are. Then taken to Ayumu Bay and drowned until the fire of your body and spirit are extinguished. May the spirits have mercy on your soul."

Weights landed in Zuko's stomach. The guards moved forward to escort him away. His cuffed feet scuffled across the stone ground. He tried to keep pace with the guards marching him through the red pavilion. 

They led him through the crowd that wrestled with the sentries. The crowd bustled against the armored men just, riling and wild. Just to steal a brief glance at the condemned royal.

He scanned the crowd noticing the peasantry mixed in with the nobility. A rare sight. 

He hoped to catch a glimpse of Mai's pale face and soft eyes in the sea of distorted faces. He did not.  An unsure sense of relief came over him knowing that she wouldn't see her lover in such a humiliated state. He saw nothing. No one he would recognize, except for the sharp and hysterical voice of a woman screaming for her son.

_Mom?!_

Sunset neared. 

They branded him as traitor, a feared mark placed on the right shoulder of the convicted. He didn't remember if he screamed when they pressed the bright branding iron into his skin. The block of wood shoved between his teeth kept him from biting his tongue as the iron made its mark. The same wood tasted like charcoal when the iron fell away, the fresh burn stinging in the open air. His eyes were red and watery. Smoke drifting out of his mouth. 

He clung to consciousness as they shaved his head and the thin traces of a beard around his chin. The guards and Sages stepped back to look at their masterpiece. The former Prince, now bared and broken. His hands shaking in his chains and his scar an angry red comet on his pale, sickly face. No longer a royal, just a dead man in waiting.

They placed him in a cart with his fellow condemned. They all bore similar markings if not more and Zuko wondered if he looked just as terrified and broken as they did. Their hands shook in their chains, faces downcast, one bit his lip as if he meant to stifle tears or rage. The cart lurched forward, pulled by a Komodo-rhino, beginning their final journey.

The execution grounds of Ayumu Bay were just as intimidating as he remembered when he was a boy. His father had brought him along to watch an execution despite his mother's protests. He remembered trying hard not to cry or to scream watching men die in their watery graves.

They marched him and the other men up the stairs to the raised platform. They stood on aged and watered wooden beams over the deep waters of the bay. He gazed out at the ocean's horizon. Engraining the sunset into his fleeting memory. 

He thought of Mai, her cool gaze and pale beauty and the sunsets they watched together in a more peaceful time. The last time he'd seen her he was promising her he'd come back.

He did, just not the way he expected.

He ached for her then, wishing he was with her. He loved Mai. The guilt nagged and stabbed when he dreamt of a dark beauty with bright azure eyes. The bright cobalt blue that pierced his soul in his dreamed state. He had seen the natives of both water tribes and knew that this mysterious feminine muse came from them. Yet not one rivaled her beauty. 

How? He didn't know. He glanced at the face of every water tribesman and woman, not one rivaled her beauty. Having spent countless quiet, lonely nights fantasizing about her touch and her voice. Only to be occassionally misplaced, when his Mai was lying next to him.

They placed heavy weights on the chains around his feet. The wood of the trap door creaking nervously under the leadened balls. Zuko shuddered, the manacles on his wrists fastened to a larger apparatus far above his head. A pulley system, now lax, to retrieve the corpses from the bay's depths.

The Sages chanted their songs of death and mourning from the rocky beachside. Onlookers from the nearby slums gazed at them in a mixture of fear and curiosity. Some murmured and pointed fingers at him, recognizing their Prince.

A small girl with raven-colored hair danced in the reeds, singing sweetly. She ran up the hillside, looking at Zuko over her shoulder.

A woman in rags wept and screamed furiously, knee deep in the bays' waters.

"Don't cry for me Lysha," the man beside him protested. "I'll be at peace, waiting for you."

The man's words did not hinder her sobs, nor did they impede the few quiet tears from streaming down his cheeks. Glossy orbs gazing up at the sky in a silent plea for mercy.

Soft footsteps whispered against wood as the mechanical apparatus creaked and ticked in anxiousness. The flip of a switch set off the inevitable reaction. Metal turned against metal, grinding loudly like sharp screech emerging from the void's silence. The gears loosened in a red breath of salt and rust. The condemned breathed their last. Breathes in shallow, sharp inhales of terror, realizing there was no floor to stand on.

The trap door fell out from underneath him and the water made impact in a single sharp frozen punch. The weights on his feet sunk quick. His body stretched by the manacles around his wrists. He wanted to scream, his eyes wide with horror despite the sting of the saltwater. He strained his muscles to lift upward, to climb up the chain towards the surface and to freedom. Desperate and dying and trying to shake free. 

His lungs burned, aching for air. Bubbles filtered out of his nose leaving his lungs vacant of precious oxygen. His mouth tasted only saltwater, choking. His chest heaved. Saltwater creeping into his lungs and throat, pulling him under. Black dots swirled before his vision.  Above the sky seemed distant, the sunset a flickering haze of flames, dying out.

The burning terror in his lungs gave way to numbness. The fast encroaching saltwater in his lungs shook and jerked his manacles body violently.

So much pain. Why couldn't death claim him quicker?

_Do not be afraid, my love._

Then she was there, the indisputable presence of the water maiden. Never banished her from his thoughts and dreams, constant and remaining like the moon and stars and the sun.

How could she? She wasn't even real.

He heard her voice, soft and soothing in the watery depths. Whispered like a lover's words into his good ear. Warm water currents encircled him, comforting him and tracing his lips in what felt like a kiss. Her touch was indisputable, foreign yet familiar, and leaving him in longing.

Then he felt as peace, the need for air gone. Willing himself to open his eyes and expecting the bright light to blind him. Yet, he saw the bay's waters, still and clear. The silhouettes of onlookers in the sunset above watched him and the other condemned drown. The sages chanted in the distance. Eyes numb to the saltwater's sting. 

He saw her, a faint outline in the waters around him that. More defined and darker as the sky traded colors in the sunset. Her bright eyes were piercing, and her face soft and lovely. 

Just like he had dreamed.

_I wish you could remember a time when I was yours and you were mine. But we will see each other again and I'll be there waiting for you._

"Who are you?" he wanted to say, but no sound came from his mouth. Just a silent air bubble.

She willed his eyes to close and they did, feeling exhausted.

_Be at peace and fight another day._

The ocean around him faded, replaced by a white mist that sang ancient songs in its mystic, quiet shadows. He couldn't remember if he wore chains when he saw the girl dancing through the reeds of the bayside. Her bare toes balanced on the smooth stones as she led him up the hillside. Her small white dress brushing against the high grasses. Silent wind bristled her hair when she looked over her shoulder, beckoning him to follow. Her face was round and child-like, eyes big and bright of a color he would never remember. He felt compelled to follow and he did, up the hillside, not feeling the grass and dirt underneath his soles. 

She disappeared over the crest of the hill, fading into the sunlight and into silence. Still he followed, not sure if he was falling or flying. But there was no pain, nothing, just peace, and he knew that he was dead.

Or so he thought.


	2. Lost

"Katara look out!" shouted Aang.

Katara turned and ducked watching a fireball whiz over her head. A gust of wind sent the soldiers flying across the clearing, tumbling down onto the grass. A soldier charged from her left, her water whip ready in her hands as a boomerang slammed into his helmet, knocking him aside. The water whip sent him flying across the clearing. Two more soldiers appeared, anger and fear in their faces before rocky jettisons emerged from the ground, throwing them from the earth and into the darkness of the forest.

Toph clenched her hands, her feet burrowing into the rough dirt. "Another platoon is heading this way. We should lose them while we can."

"Toph, can you create false footprints leading them away?" Sokka asked, retrieving his boomerang from the brush.

"On it," she confirmed cracking her knuckles and stomping her feet on the ground. The earth shook briefly and a few animals scattered, frightened by the sudden movement of the forest floor.

"That should keep them wandering the woods for a few days."

The small gang retreated into the woods, jumping over logs and scratching their arms and knees on loose branches and bristles. They ran until Toph could no longer feel the soldier's rhythmic marching underneath her feet. Giving them just enough relief to pause, out of breath and deep in the woods where the trees grew tall and the brushes and vines grew wild. The grasses were untouched except for the tracks of a few small animals. But none by humans, not for decades.

"Tell me Aang," Sokka began between breaths. "Was the Fire Nation this hostile and rabid a hundred years ago?"

Aang paused, drawing a breath. "It had its issues."

They each took turns catching their breath and drinking from Katara's water skin, that she kept disguised as a purse covered in red cloth and slung across her back.

Aang straightened out his hat, making sure it covered his arrow tattoos, before standing and saying, "So Toph, which way back to the cave?"

Toph paused, her sightless eyes a little wide in shock. "When did my earth bending make me chief navigator?"

"Since you can see with your feet."

"Not long distances! There's no cave near this place."

"You mean we're lost?" Sokka piped in.

"We can't be lost! Appa and Momo are back at the cave. I told them we'd bring them treats."

"Well if you wanna blame anyone, blame Sokka. He's the one that blew our cover," Toph protested, pointing an accusing finger at Sokka.

"Well I'm sorry," Sokka began sarcastically. "How was I supposed to know a cabbage merchant would recognize us? Why don't we just blame Katara, she's the one that wanted to make soup for dinner."

"Sokka, stop making this any more ridiculous than it is," Katara said, narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah Snoozes! It was you that kept on stalling during the invasion."

"She's right Sokka, if you hadn't been so worried about Suki the invasion force might have actually stood a chance," Aang explained with surprising calmness.

"Alright, so everything is my fault! It's my fault the Fire Nation is trying to destroy the world. It's my fault that we are being hunted by those hot-headed goons and it's my fault we are lost!" Sokka exclaimed with a frown. "Well, thanks for the support guys! It sure means a lot!"

Sokka stormed off into a wild brush and jumped back out just as quickly with a yelp, fire bristles in his hair and clothes.

Katara moved forward and began to pluck the bristles from her brother's person, watching him wince at every slight tug.

"We're not going to get anywhere if we keep arguing like this. Yes, the invasion was a bust and we're all reaping the consequences for it. But we just need to move forward," Katara encouraged in a soft and tired voice.

"Katara's right," Aang began. "Dwelling on the past isn't going to help anyone. We need to look ahead."

"By watching out for Fire bristles?" Sokka grunted, shaking his head free of the thin vines.

"By looking for the next meal?" Toph groaned, feeling hungry.

Katara sighed. "It's not a plan to stop the Fire Nation but its a start. Let's keep walking and make camp where it's safe. We'll find Appa and Momo tomorrow."

The sky overhead was darkening in purple and orange hues, while the gang's stomachs growled loudly in hunger as they tentatively made their way through the forest. Sokka was at the head of the pack, swinging his sword to clear a way through the thick brush, while Toph walked closely behind Katara to avoid running into loose branches and fire bristles. Aang scouted overhead in the treetops, looking for familiar landmarks. But as they traveled deeper and deeper into the woodland, the young Avatar realized just how far from civilization they were. They were safe at the moment but completely lost.

"Toph are you sure that you don't see anything?" asked Sokka for the millionth time.

"For the final time Snoozles I don't see anything that hints at where we camped last night," said Toph annoyed. "The only thing I see are trees, some trees…some more trees…oh…and a small stream over in that direction," she said pointing to a thick brush of thick green leaves and vines.

Katara scanned the group as Aang descended gracefully from the treetops. They all looked exhausted, no doubt she did too.

"Alright then. Let's camp here and continue our search in the morning," Katara spoke to the gang.

"What about food?" Sokka asked, his stomach growling loudly.

Katara turned to Toph. "Toph, which way is the stream you mentioned earlier?"

Toph slunk to the ground, hugging her knees, and pointed towards a thick brush, edging the clearing. "It's that way between the trees. Just go straight and you should reach it."

"Aang and Sokka. Get a fire going and hunt for some berries. I'm going to catch us some fish." With her orders given Katara made her way through the brush, a few fire bristles catching in her long hair and clothes along the way. Emerging from the brush she found the stream Toph had mentioned and for a moment pitied Toph, not being able to see the beauty of the spring before her.

It was like a painting, with long graceful reeds growing along the soft bank that edged the crystal clear pool of blue and green and purple stones. A graceful willow tree stood proudly on the far edge, it's long hanging branches swaying in a gentle breeze. There was even a small waterfall, the gentle current trickling downhill and dancing across the smooth and polished stones.

Approaching the edge of the spring she removed her clothes, stripping down to her undergarments for the swim. She dove in and found the water crisp and cool, a nice relief from the Fire Nation heat coupled with the sanctity of being surrounded by her native element. She breathed in relief and dove deeper into the pool, healthily sized fish scattering into the rocky crevices once they felt her presence.

So she waited, quietly, still in the water with her hair long and loose in the subtle current. Slowly the fish made their way from the hiding spots and with a flick of her fingers they froze in place. The icy logs floated to the surface, the eyes of the fish wide and surprised as Katara smiled triumphantly.

Her arms full of freshly caught and frozen fish she climbed up the soft bank, tripping on the reeds when a sharp point painfully prodded her toe. She squealed, setting herself and her catch on the grassy floor, rubbing her bare foot.

It was then that she saw it. A small curved point made of now tarnished bronze stuck out of the mud of the bank, like an animal's claw. She dug it from the soft earth, rinsing it the pool's waters before inspecting it.

It was a small hair ornament, just like the ones Fire Nation men wore in their top knots. The flecks of gold leaf and red paint that remained on the tarnished artifact signified value or high rank to its wearer.

"Possibly worth a few coins at the market," she thought out loud, before tucking it into her belt as she dressed.

She cleaned out her water skins, replenishing them with the fresh drinking water she knew her friends would appreciate and headed back to camp with the fish in tow.

The fire crackled under the roasted fish. The sky had darkened overhead into a deep navy blue. Katara felt the pulse of the moon, waxing overhead.

The gang sat close to the fire, despite the warmth of the night, taking comfort in the scent of their dinner as they munched on the scavenged berries and nuts. Sokka tossed his share into Aang's lap, reaching for one of the skewered fish. Licking his lips.

"Meeeat," he whispered in excitement, prodding the cooked flesh with his fingers before tearing into it with his teeth.

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother, handing a fish to Toph who began to devour it in a very Sokka-like manner. She offered Aang one, but he shook his head. "No thanks, Katara."

"You can't live off of just berries and nuts. You need your strength." The loud grumble in Aang's stomach told her as much. But still, he shook his head, turning away from the cooked flesh of the fish.

Katara sighed, resting herself near the fire and quietly began to nibble on her own fish.

"So once we find Appa tomorrow, I think we should head for the coast, stick to secluded areas, hide out in caves, and if anyone finds us we have a quick escape route to the sea."

"And eat nothing but cave-hoppers until we come up with a plan? No thanks!" Toph commented, swallowing the last of her fish.

"Blending in is better than hiding out."

"It was before the invasion force, Aang. Now they know we're here. Telling them that we're just humble colonials isn't working, it's a red flag."

"Everyone is out to get us now? What a hospitable country this is."

"It's not their fault, Sokka. They're just scared."

"What do you mean, Toph?"

"Well think about it, their homeland was just invaded. They see us walk into town and they're on edge, I could feel their heartbeats quicken whenever we mentioned we were from the colonies. They may not have been there at the invasion but they've no doubt heard about it and they're afraid, not for their power and wealth. These are simple townsfolk, they're afraid for their homes and families."

Sokka licked his lips of fish bits thoughtfully, tossing the empty skewer aside and reaching for Aang's untouched portion.

"Makes sense Toph, but where do we go? We can't stay near civilization, you guys find caves revolting, so that just leaves…"

"We're not going to the Western Air Temple!" Aang interjected.

Sokka sighed,"Alright Aang, then you tell me one place where we can find a sanctuary close to food and water and not an insane distance from the Fire Nation so we can scout and plan a rescue mission for our friends from the invasion force."

"I'm not going back there, Sokka," Aang stated.

"Why not?! It sounds like the perfect place that you keep dangling in front of us but you refuse to take us there, so why…"

"Would you go ever back to the Southern Water Tribe if you saw it destroyed? Your friends and your people taken and killed by the Fire Nation?"

His words silenced Sokka.

"I'm sorry, Aang."

"The Fire Nation found me there before, they could just as easily find me there again."

"They could be guarding the place for all you know, Snoozles."

The light of the fire flickered nervously, sensing Aang's change in mood. Katara lowered her fish, her nagging hunger suddenly dissipated.

"Could you tell us what happened, Aang? It has been a hundred years, there is a chance that things have changed since then."

It was Aang's turn to sigh. "I know that things have changed. I know that they're all gone now."

A look of guilt and sadness swept over Aang's face in the firelight. "The air benders of the western air temple, the sky bison, Bumi, the White Lotus, the Dragon of the West…"

"An actual dragon?!" Toph chimed in curiously.

"No, that was just his nickname, he never told me how he got it. His name was Iroh and he made the best tea." Katara spotted a small smile on Aang's face as he reflected on the memory.

"Then there was his nephew," Aang continued. "Zuko. My fire bending teacher."

The gang was silent as Aang's eyes drifted between his three friends, wondering if he should continue.

"The temple had offered us sanctuary, so we regrouped there to decide on our next plan of attack. We were talking about going to the North Pole to complete my water bending training and help defend them from on oncoming invasion, or deep into the Earth Kingdom to master Earth bending and stop the Fire Nation from advancing on their home front. We had only been there for three days when…"

"When the Fire Nation attacked?" Katara finished. Aang nodded.

"The temple was overrun, pushing us farther and farther back into the canyon. Zuko and Iroh stepped in front of a platoon and told me to run while they fought, holding the soldiers off. They promised they would be right behind me but they…"

Aang grew quiet, tightening his arms across his chest. "I don't like to think about what happened to them after that."

"You don't have to say anymore, Aang." Katara placed on comforting hand on Aang's shoulder. "They cared about you and more importantly they believed in you and what you are destined to do. Don't let that weigh you down, what they did is more than enough reason to carry on until you accomplish what you set out to do."

"I understand Katara. I just…I just never wanted anyone to die for me." In the silence of the camp, she swore she could hear Aang choke back a sob.

"Neither would I, but as you said yourself you can't dwell on the past. You just need to keep moving forward, otherwise, their sacrifice will be in vain."

"It was when I was fleeing from the temple that I got caught in the storm, which led me to you and Sokka and Toph. Destiny is a funny thing, as Iroh would always say." Katara smiled softly, feeling Aang's kind gaze on her.

She turned away, hunger returning to her stomach as she reached for her half-eaten fish.

"Destiny is a funny thing," Sokka repeated curiously. "Makes sense. For a dragon, he sure had the world figured out."

"Iroh wasn't a dragon, he was a fire bending master," Aang corrected, munching on the last of the scavenged nuts.

"Aren't the fire bending masters dragons?" Toph grinned.

"Yeah, you told us about how you and this Zuko guy found them in order to master fire bending. Is that how you met Iroh?"

"No!" groaned Aang, annoyed. "He made tea!"

"Dragons make tea?"

"Stop teasing him, you guys!" Katara defended, while Sokka and Toph chuckled.

"I can't help it!" Toph protested. "I've never seen a dragon before," Toph smirked mischievously, waving her hand in front of her sightless eyes.

Katara pulled a thin ribbon of water from her water skins, lightly smacking Toph on the shoulder with a delicate water whip.

"Hey! Who was that?" Toph shrieked, jumping to her feet.

"I don't know," Katara feigned. "Maybe you got bit by a bug."

Sokka choked on the fish in his mouth, trying not to laugh. Aang chuckled, while Katara smiled triumphantly, before finally letting herself laugh.

"You think that's funny, Sugarqueen?!" Toph threatened, before thrusting her ankle into the earth. Katara felt the earth move underneath her feet, throwing her from the ground and knocking her into a nearby tree. Her head shook nervously, stars dancing in front of her eyes. She stood from her knees, shakily making her way back to her place by the campfire.

"For the record, Toph. It was hilarious," Katara giggled, slouching down by the fire letting her head rest on her brother's calf still blinking the stars away.

Sokka patted his sister's head as she turned over in the grass suddenly feeling very sleepy. The item still stashed in her belt fell away, rolling over in the grass. The gold flecks sparkling in the firelight.

"Hey Katara, what's that?" Aang asked, spotting the crown laying by Katara's ankle.

"Huh?" She muttered, sitting up on her elbow.

Aang fetched the item from the grass, mulling it over in his hands. His gaze serious and intent.

"Oh yeah! I found that in the stream when I was fishing. Thought we could sell it at the market. Pick up some supplies."

Aang ran his fingers along the ornament's smooth edges, holding it closer to the firelight as if he was searching for something.

"Whats wrong, Aang?" Toph asked. "Your heartbeat is all over the place."

Then suddenly Aang paused, staring at the ornament with his gray eyes wide in a mix of surprise, horror, and joy.

Katara sat up fully. Sokka paused in picking the fish bits from his teeth. Toph just listened. All curious about the young avatar as he quietly muttered a few words.

"What was that Aang?" Katara asked.

"This was Zuko's," Aang said, his voice barely above a whisper.

The gang was silent, as Aang carefully balanced the crown in his fingertips, delicate like a flower.

"How is that possible?" Sokka asked skeptically, breaking the silence. "Your fire bending teacher from a hundred years ago just happened to have a crown that just happened to end up in a stream near our campsite after we got ourselves lost in the woods miles from civilization."

"That's quite a stretch, twinkle toes," Toph agreed.

"But it is his," Aang defended.

"How do you know?"

"It says so right here." Aang pointed inside the ring of the ornament as he handed it to Katara. A little bit of rust covered the inscription but in the firelight, Katara could make out the words: Property of the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation.

Katara was slightly stunned as she read those words. "Zu…Zuko was…?"

"Yes, Katara. He was."

"He was what?!" Toph protested, annoyed.

"He was a Prince?!" said Sokka, surprised. His mouth dumbly hanging open as Katara showed him the inscription.

"WAS! He was a prince. He gave all that up to become my fire bending teacher."

"You never struck me as the type to hang out with royalty," Toph commented.

"I never knew him as a royal, just as a teacher…and a friend."

"Soooo," Sokka began, scratching his chin. "If he WAS a prince, doesn't that make him the son of the man that started this whole war."

Aang nodded.

"You were right Aang, this country has its issues. Now that we're adding Daddy issues to the list can you, as the Avatar, classify this country as permanently and detrimentally insane?"

"No, Sokka," Aang sighed. "This was his country too and he hated seeing what his father had turned it into. He wanted to change things. He wanted to end the war. You ask me why I refuse to believe that not everyone in the Fire Nation is bad, well there you have it. It was because of him and he wasn't the only one. There was Zuko's Uncle Iroh, as well as Kuzon and many others."

"You refuse to give up on these people," Katara muttered, admiring her friend's words.

Aang nodded, staring at the crown again. "The fact that his crown is here…it could mean something…he can't be far from here."

"Aang!" Toph protested. "The last time you saw him it was over a hundred years ago. The chances of you finding him out here are, how do I say this…well, they're impossible!"

"Like Katara said, I'm not giving up."

"Well can you give up for at least a few hours so we can get some sleep?" Sokka voiced, before receiving a sharp elbow jab in his stomach from Katara. Toph muttered in agreement, wanting to curl up in the dirt and fall asleep.

Aang's eyes became downcast, feeling a sense of urgency to find his friend, yet was surprised when he found himself stifling a yawn and begrudgingly let sleep claim him, with Zuko's ornament clenched tightly in his fist.

Katara was shaken awake the next morning. Her eyes opening to Aang leaning over her with pleading, urgent eyes.

"Aang what is…"

Aang promptly shushed her, pointing to the still sleeping figures of Sokka and Toph. She quietly stood up, pulling grass and leaves from her hair as she noticed the pale, blank clarity of the sky in a pre-dawn glow.

Aang grabbed her wrist, dragging her from the clearing through the brush to the stream.

"Is this where you found it?" Aang questioned.

Katara nodded, yawning.

Aang turned from her and stared at the stream muttering to himself, "The water is flowing west so the source comes from the east. We need to head upstream."

With that, he began to follow the stream eastward, a determination in his stride.

Katara chased after him. "Hold on Aang! We should wait for the others!"

Yet Aang continued to walk, no longer the patient and calm monk.

Katara chased after him, briefly catching him by the sleeve of his tunic before he leaped up into the treetops. He flew from branch to branch racing through the forest, farther and farther from the campsite.

Her feet pounded against the ground below in pursuit of the young Avatar. She shouted at him, panting, pausing to take a breath.

The stream flowed by carelessly. She waved her hands around in summons, gathering the water beneath her feet, gliding easily up the hill as she rode the crest of her own small wave. The avatar always in her sights.

She followed the Avatar up the mountainside, where the trees became sparser and the hillside slope steeper. Aang leaped from the treetops, landing on top of a gray mountainside boulder. He sat up there on his perch for a time gazing around intently.

Katara wiped the sweat from her brow, the sun's morning rays reflecting off the glistening stone of the mountainside. She squinted her eyes, peering through the eastern light, making out the shape of a dormant volcano, its peek flattened and sloped as it held the orb of the sun behind its rocky exterior.

She lowered her gaze, waiting for Aang. She found the stream, lazily flowing out of a grated opening that led deep underground and under the mountainside.

"That's odd," she found herself saying out loud, rinsing her hand in the warm, dusty water. Her finger's traced the rough and rusted metal edges of the grate, the forged bars loose from the years of wear and tear.

"Katara!" Aang called, leaping down from the boulder in a gust of wind. "Find anything?"

"I'm not exactly sure what we are looking for, Aang. The water comes from underneath the mountain, but that's normally snow and ice melted from the mountaintops. I not sure how it ended up underneath."

Aang, spying the grate, knelt down in front of it. It was built into the slope of the mountainside, barely large enough for a man to crawl through with or without metal bars. He pulled the ornament from his pocket and pushed it back and forth between the bars of the grate.

"It fits perfectly," he remarked, a hint of triumph in his voice.

"Aang?"

"This might sound crazy, Katara. But I think he's underneath the mountain."

Katara just stared at him, her mouth hanging open. She didn't know where to begin. She had barely uttered a syllable to form her response when the earth rumbled beneath their feet and Katara felt fear course through her before a large block of stone burst up from the ground in a controlled explosion.

A large stone slab on the structure slid open, revealing Toph and Sokka.

"Ding! Level three." Toph chimed. "Thought you could outrun us couldn't you, lovebirds?"

Katara shook the fear from her nerves only to feel her face turn bright red, as Sokka and Toph emerged from the cubic stone structure.

Sokka brushed bits of dirt from his hair, before turning to Aang and Katara, frowning.

"What on earth are you two doing?" Sokka grunted, pointing an accusatory finger at Aang.

Aang held up the ornament. "I thought that if we followed the stream we could find where this thing came from."

"And?"

"We found the source of the stream. It leads under the mountain, but that's as far as we've gotten."

"You mean The Temple?" Toph asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What Temple?" they all asked in unison.

"That Temple?" Toph pointed at the mountain and the group gaped at her.

"Are you sure? It looks more like a dead volcano."

"Feels like a temple to me. Remember the bunker from the day of the invasion?" Sokka reluctantly nodded. "It's like that only more intricate, delicate…more full if that makes any sense."

"What do you mean 'more full'?"

"Well it's hard to say," said Toph, her hands shifting in the dirt, carefully listening to the earth's echoes. "There are hundreds of tiny rooms, filled with..things and…coffins…? The vibrations are odd, I think that those are corpses, buried inside the volcano."

"That's because it's not a temple. It's a tomb." Aang said grimly.

"What do you mean, Aang?"

"Zuko mentioned it once. How his ancestors have been buried in volcanic catacombs since the beginning of the monarchy."

"I have to say, these Fire Nation royals have an odd obsession with volcanoes. They're the last place I would want to buried..or live in."

The gears turned in Katara's mind. "So if this is where it came from and its the temple where his ancestors are buried then that means…"

"I know what it means Katara. Like you said, its been a hundred years I'm not exactly hoping to find him alive."

"Then what are you hoping to find?"

"Chestfuls of treasure?" Toph grinned.

"Underground maps of the Fire Nation?"

Katara glared at Sokka and Toph as Aang finished, "I'm not hoping to find anything. I'm just hoping to say goodbye."

Aang stared at the boulder feeling so small compared to it and its massive size. He stared at it for several moments hoping that the entrance would open up right in front of him.

"Do you see an entrance Toph?"

"Actually, yes." She cracked her knuckles and punched her fists into the ground. The earth trembled and groaned and the massive boulder fell away into dust.

Katara shielded her eyes as the wind carried the small fragments away. Once everything settled an elegantly carved door remained, bordered with curved flame-like crevices and artifices, topped with the symbol of the fire nation.

"No handles?" Sokka observed. "Don't these people know how to build a door."

"Well this is the Fire Nation, they don't exactly need them." Aang closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the eyes of his friends upon him. He conjured up his inner flame and let the fire pulsate through his veins. The rush of fire burst through his hands and fingertips, heating the stone door watching it as it began to glow a bright cherry red.

He quenched the flame, remembering the form Zuko and Iroh had taught him all those years ago. The gang watch as the insignia glowed, pulsating like a small heartbeat.

"Somethings moving," Toph observed, her toes tickling the dirt. The gang stood silently as a loud bang emerged from underneath the earth. Sokka instinctively drew his sword while the rest assumed positions, ready to attack or defend.

Something thumped, then creaked and cracked, as if the mountain itself was waking from its slumber. But it wasn't the mountain, it was machinery. Shaking off the dust and pulling the doors open for its awaited guests.

The great stone doors slowly swung open, releasing a puff of dust in a poor attempt of a fiery breath. The tomb had opened.

The tunnel led down and deep into the earth, it was cavernous and dark and endless as if it meant to swallow the young teens. The entire group, even Toph, felt chills run up and down their spines.

Aang approached, pausing at the entrance, before turning to his friends and said, "I'm going to go find him. I'll understand if you don't want to come."

The group paused, exchanging glances, then followed without hesitation, making their way down the dark passageway into the Tomb of the Old Lords.


End file.
